Birth Story - Lucy and baby boy

I went to bed on my due date, experiencing some sensations in my back, but I didn’t believe it could be the start of labour as; firstly I went over by two weeks with my first and; secondly it was a totally different feeling to the surges I had experienced with my first born.

I woke just before 4am to feel my back more intensely and when I went to the loo I noticed some pink liquid. I then knew that this was it, despite the sensations being so different to my first labour.

I let my partner know, called my friend to come round to be there for my toddler and then got into the zone. Back in the bedroom, I got into the all fours position or sat on my haunches on the bed, with the lights dimmed, whilst listening to your affirmations. Tom sprayed the room, and kept me focussed, counting me through surges when I needed him to.

Over the next couple of hours We continued like this. Using an app we monitored my surges, and though they were getting closer together and longer, I knew I didn’t want to go to the birth centre yet, even though my partner repeatedly asked me whether we should get going! There was a very sweet moment when my toddler woke up and he helped Tom count and stroke my back through the surges.

After we put the tens machine on me things got intense, and I just knew we had to get going. Around 8-8.15am we called a taxi and after a bumpy (our driver didn’t seemed to care about the many speed bumps on the roads near us!) but quick ride there, we got to the birth centre, stopping for surges as we walked the corridors. Once inside, Tom set up the room with tea lights, room spray and yoga music.

By this point I was dependent on Tom to count with me, stopping me from panicking, and keeping me focussed. I asked to get into the pool pretty quickly. Whilst she was running the water, the midwife read my notes and was very understanding of our wishes.

I was on my knees over a bean bag when the midwife needed to manoeuvre me, to listen to the baby’s heartbeat. As she did she told me that the baby was back to back (which is why the sensations were so different to my first labour). It was at this point that I had a wobble, almost at the same time my waters broke and were thick with meconium; the baby had done a massive poo inside me. On seeing this, my midwife, very sympathetically, told me that unfortunately I couldn’t have a water birth, and that I needed to be transferred to the labour ward.

I could now feel the baby descending. Tom kept me focussed as they transferred me to the labour ward and stayed calm, knowing that we needed to get him out. In the labour ward room, I immediately clambered on the bed and went onto all fours, Tom only had time to spray the room, the smell - I cannot tell you how much that helped, and within five minutes I had pushed the baby out!

Looking back the labour went so well, I didn’t mind not having a water birth at all. I felt so empowered pushing him out. (We used BRAIN; and chose to push, as they needed the baby out due to how much meconium there was - he really had done a massive poo! - plus I didn’t want any intervention, just a calm birth, which in the end it was.)

Our as yet unnamed baby had arrived within 45 minutes of us getting to the hospital!

I was surprised that our baby decided to arrive the day after his due date, that he had such a thick head of hair and mostly that he weighed in at an impressive 10lbs 2oz!!

Just goes to show that a} bump measurements are not accurate; I was measuring only 37 at 40 weeks and they wanted to send me for a growth scan in case baby wasn’t growing(!) and b} that big babies are not necessarily hard to birth - certainly wasn't the case for me as this super quick labour was far easier than my first son’s and he weighed a more moderate 8lbs 13oz).

We were then transferred back to the birth centre for the rest of the day and night, where I got to know our little baby better. So in love.